Society page
Encyclopedia
In journalism
, society reporting or society journalism is the reporting of society news in a newspaper or magazine. In the newsroom
it is the province of the society desk.
, who created it for the New York Herald
in 1835. His reportage centred upon the lives and social gatherings of the rich and famous, with names partially out by dashes and reports mildly satirical. Mott et al. record that "Society was at first aghast, then amused, then complacent, and finally hungry for the penny-press stories of its own doings." Bennett had in fact been reporting such news since 1827, with articles in the New York Enquirer
. In the period after the United States Civil War, there were many newly rich people in the country, and reportage of their antics, sometimes tasteless and gauche, was of considerable entertainment value. By 1885, Ward McAllister
had been recruited to report on society news for the New York World
by Joseph Pulitzer
, and it was around that time that society reporting, both on dedicated society pages and in the (then) new Sunday supplements, became very popular.
Society pages and society reporting was prevalent in the New York daily newspapers from the winter of 1880 onwards. The previous year, Pearl Rivers
had transplanted the notion to New Orleans, where she had begun the Society Bee, a local society column, on 1879-03-16. Again, the initial reaction was shock. Rivers reported, in the Society Bee itself of course, the reaction of one woman who was "opposed to print on principle. Print applied to persons is her special horror and abomination … poison only fit for politics, Associated Press dispatches, and police reports. She thought me very wrong to mention any ladies' names in a newspaper. She said [that] it was 'shabby' and 'shoddy' and 'shameful'.". But Rivers persevered, and a decade later, on 1890-11-02, the column, now entitled simply Society, was the largest part of the Sunday paper carrying it.
Society pages, and the so-called women's pages that they were either synonymous with or one part of, were part of an effort, by Pulitzer and others, to attract women readers from the 1880s onwards, as newspapers became more and more funded by advertising. Women's pages in general covered issues intended to attract the readership of the stereotypical American housewife of the time: society news, fashion, food, relationships, etiquette, health, homemaking, interior decorating, and family issues.
Across the ocean in Britain, society news was at the same time emerging in the British press as part of "women's journalism", again aimed at attracting a female readership. It was also, in both the U.S. and Britain, largely the province of women journalists, and considered subordinate. For example: Society news, in the late 19th century, was not sent to the newspapers by reporters via the telegraph, as other news was, because that was considered too expensive for mere society reporting. Society journalists instead sent their reports by ordinary mail. Dix Harwood, author of the 1927 journalism textbook Getting and Writing News stated that society reporting rarely enjoyed much dignity.
Despite the growth in popularity in the 1880s, many "serious" newspapers were initially cautious about society reporting. For examples: The Ottawa Journal
didn't permit Florence Randal, its first society reporter, to do anything but recite simple chronicles of the dowager
s and debutante
s of the city. The staff at the Globe, whose society column began in 1893, considered society news to be "horrid vulgar stuff", according to the Globe's editor Melville Hammond, and its publication was not well received by its subjects "High Society matrons [who were] unused to the publicizing of private life".
Mrs. Willoughby Cummings (Nee Emily Ann McCausland), worked as a press journalist, and a society editor of the Toronto Globe, under the pen name of "Sama." In 1900 she became editor of "Woman's Sphere," a department of the Canadian Magazine. She worked on behalf of the poor and afflicted and served as an official of various societies. In 1902, for example, she became the corresponding secretary for the National Council of Women of Canada
. The Toronto Globe, coverage, under the stewardship of its first society editor, Mrs Willoughby Cummings expanded from weekly notes to a daily column in three years.
Typical topics were "Miss Emily Bissell
as a Turkish Girl", Chicago Tribune
, Jan 1, 1900 or "Maryland Society Belle Was Fair Senorita at Ball," Times-Picayune, Feb 7, 1916.
Male reporters were unwilling to cover such things. As Morton Sontheimer stated in 1941 "The women's department jobs almost invariably go to women, not because men can't do them but because they won't." (Newspaperman, pp. 228). One such reporter who refused to do the job even though it had been handed to him was Gordon Sinclair
, of the Toronto Star
.
Sinclair got the job of woman's page editor after Clifford Wallace, its previous editor, had begged to be relieved of the job. Wallace, the first male woman's page editor of the Star and nicknamed "Nellie" because of that, had been given the job as the result of the proprietor's wife, Mrs Atkinson, regarding the women who had previously run the women's desk as "a menace". In 1922, the managing editor reassigned the position from Wallace to Sinclair. Sinclair treated the position with utter contempt. He later wrote:
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, society reporting or society journalism is the reporting of society news in a newspaper or magazine. In the newsroom
Newsroom
A newsroom is the place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, along with other staffers—work to gather news to be published in a newspaper or magazine or broadcast on television, cable or radio...
it is the province of the society desk.
Beginnings
The first true society page in the United States was the invention of newspaper owner James Gordon Bennett, Jr.James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett, Sr., who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father....
, who created it for the New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
in 1835. His reportage centred upon the lives and social gatherings of the rich and famous, with names partially out by dashes and reports mildly satirical. Mott et al. record that "Society was at first aghast, then amused, then complacent, and finally hungry for the penny-press stories of its own doings." Bennett had in fact been reporting such news since 1827, with articles in the New York Enquirer
New York Enquirer
The New York Enquirer has been the name of two unrelated newspapers published in New York City.-19th century New York Enquirer:The New York Enquirer was founded in 1826 by Mordecai Noah. According to the masthead, it was "published every Tuesday and Friday at No. 1 Williams St., New York, New York"...
. In the period after the United States Civil War, there were many newly rich people in the country, and reportage of their antics, sometimes tasteless and gauche, was of considerable entertainment value. By 1885, Ward McAllister
Ward McAllister
Samuel Ward McAllister was the self-appointed arbiter of New York society from the 1860s to the early 1890s.-Life and career:...
had been recruited to report on society news for the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
by Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911), born Politzer József, was a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. Pulitzer introduced the techniques of "new journalism" to the newspapers he acquired in the 1880s and became a leading...
, and it was around that time that society reporting, both on dedicated society pages and in the (then) new Sunday supplements, became very popular.
Society pages and society reporting was prevalent in the New York daily newspapers from the winter of 1880 onwards. The previous year, Pearl Rivers
Pearl Rivers
Eliza Jane Poitevent Holbrook Nicholson , who wrote under the nom de plume Pearl Rivers, was a United States journalist and poet. She took the name from the Pearl River near her home in Mississippi.-Early life:...
had transplanted the notion to New Orleans, where she had begun the Society Bee, a local society column, on 1879-03-16. Again, the initial reaction was shock. Rivers reported, in the Society Bee itself of course, the reaction of one woman who was "opposed to print on principle. Print applied to persons is her special horror and abomination … poison only fit for politics, Associated Press dispatches, and police reports. She thought me very wrong to mention any ladies' names in a newspaper. She said [that] it was 'shabby' and 'shoddy' and 'shameful'.". But Rivers persevered, and a decade later, on 1890-11-02, the column, now entitled simply Society, was the largest part of the Sunday paper carrying it.
Society pages, and the so-called women's pages that they were either synonymous with or one part of, were part of an effort, by Pulitzer and others, to attract women readers from the 1880s onwards, as newspapers became more and more funded by advertising. Women's pages in general covered issues intended to attract the readership of the stereotypical American housewife of the time: society news, fashion, food, relationships, etiquette, health, homemaking, interior decorating, and family issues.
Across the ocean in Britain, society news was at the same time emerging in the British press as part of "women's journalism", again aimed at attracting a female readership. It was also, in both the U.S. and Britain, largely the province of women journalists, and considered subordinate. For example: Society news, in the late 19th century, was not sent to the newspapers by reporters via the telegraph, as other news was, because that was considered too expensive for mere society reporting. Society journalists instead sent their reports by ordinary mail. Dix Harwood, author of the 1927 journalism textbook Getting and Writing News stated that society reporting rarely enjoyed much dignity.
Despite the growth in popularity in the 1880s, many "serious" newspapers were initially cautious about society reporting. For examples: The Ottawa Journal
Ottawa Journal
The Ottawa Journal was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario from 1885 to 1980.It was founded in 1885 by A. Woodburn as the Ottawa Evening Journal. Its first editor was John Wesley Dafoe who came from the Winnipeg Free Press. In 1886, it was bought by Philip Dansken Ross.The...
didn't permit Florence Randal, its first society reporter, to do anything but recite simple chronicles of the dowager
Dowager
A dowager is a widow who holds a title or property, or dower, derived from her deceased husband. As an adjective, "Dowager" usually appears in association with monarchical and aristocratic titles....
s and debutante
Debutante
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...
s of the city. The staff at the Globe, whose society column began in 1893, considered society news to be "horrid vulgar stuff", according to the Globe's editor Melville Hammond, and its publication was not well received by its subjects "High Society matrons [who were] unused to the publicizing of private life".
Mrs. Willoughby Cummings (Nee Emily Ann McCausland), worked as a press journalist, and a society editor of the Toronto Globe, under the pen name of "Sama." In 1900 she became editor of "Woman's Sphere," a department of the Canadian Magazine. She worked on behalf of the poor and afflicted and served as an official of various societies. In 1902, for example, she became the corresponding secretary for the National Council of Women of Canada
National Council of Women of Canada
The National Council of Women of Canada is a Canadian advocacy organization based in Ottawa aimed at improving conditions for women, families, and communities. A federation of nationally-organized societies of men and women and local and provincial councils of women, it is the Canadian member of...
. The Toronto Globe, coverage, under the stewardship of its first society editor, Mrs Willoughby Cummings expanded from weekly notes to a daily column in three years.
Women's pages and women journalists
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, society reporting was seen as largely the province of female journalists. The "women's pages" were written by women. Indeed, in the 19th century in many newspapers, particularly smaller ones, the only women on the paper's staff at all were those who covered society news. Dix Harwood claimed that the society desk, and the woman who ran it, was nonetheless important:Typical topics were "Miss Emily Bissell
Emily Bissell
Emily Perkins Bissell was an American social worker and activist, best remembered for introducing Christmas Seals to the United States....
as a Turkish Girl", Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, Jan 1, 1900 or "Maryland Society Belle Was Fair Senorita at Ball," Times-Picayune, Feb 7, 1916.
Male reporters were unwilling to cover such things. As Morton Sontheimer stated in 1941 "The women's department jobs almost invariably go to women, not because men can't do them but because they won't." (Newspaperman, pp. 228). One such reporter who refused to do the job even though it had been handed to him was Gordon Sinclair
Gordon Sinclair
Allan Gordon Sinclair, OC, FRGS was a Canadian journalist, writer and commentator.-Early life:Sinclair was born in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. In 1916, before finishing his first year of high school, Sinclair dropped out to take a job with the Bank of Nova Scotia...
, of the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
.
Sinclair got the job of woman's page editor after Clifford Wallace, its previous editor, had begged to be relieved of the job. Wallace, the first male woman's page editor of the Star and nicknamed "Nellie" because of that, had been given the job as the result of the proprietor's wife, Mrs Atkinson, regarding the women who had previously run the women's desk as "a menace". In 1922, the managing editor reassigned the position from Wallace to Sinclair. Sinclair treated the position with utter contempt. He later wrote: